Bridal Veil Falls and Latourell Falls

Portland - Columbia River Gorge

Bridal Veil Falls drops 118' along Bridal Veil Creek in the Columbia River Gorge. A short, paved path winds down to a bridge below the falls, then rises up the far side to an elevated viewing platform. Nearby Latourell Falls plunges 224' over a columnar basalt wall on the west end of the Columbia River Gorge. A loop can be taken over the top to Upper Latourell Falls, a 120' horsetail with an accessible grotto behind it.

Latourell Falls were named after Joseph Latourell, a well known settler in the area; the land itself was owned by Guy W. Talbot, who donated it to Oregon State Parks in 1929

Bridal Veil Creek is easy to reach, but also contains poison oak along the banks; an oil called urushiol causes the allergic reaction in people, and can persist on skin and clothes long after contact and spread simply by touch

Bigleaf Maple crowns differ by growing environment; in dense forests it will develop a narrow crown supported by stem-free branches for half its length, while in the open it will develop a broad crown with a few large supporting limbs

The Columbia River Basalt Group is the principal rock unit in the gorge, comprising a series of basalt flows that erupted 17-6M years ago

According to Waterfallsnorthwest, Bridal Veil looked different in the early 20th century when the upper tier was much taller and the lower tier much shorter; it's thought the original fall squeezed through a narrow chute that has since been blocked